It was a quiet weekend-most of my plans were cancelled by friends for various reasons. I did get my oil changed, then test rode a 50cc scooter (a Buddy 50) that I can use around town and then take back to Reno with me. They weight about 220 pounds so are quite substantial. Still thinking about that one. I did get to Evergreen to exchange my corked bottle of port for a new bottle. I stayed for lunch (they even gave me a free glass of rose for my troubles). I made Spiced Tomato Soup muffins (I know, it sounds weird but they were good! Almost like pumpkin muffins!). Sunday Paula and I went to the Old South Pearl Street Farmer's Market. We didn't stay long as Paula is still recuperating from her foot/leg infection. I still am amazed at the farmer's markets here in Colorado. They seem more like a venue for food crafters than for produce, although there certainly is produce available. This one has massage therapists, acupuncturists, holistic medicine people, and a few I can't even remember!
Today we got our stocks out of the walk-in first thing so we could boil them in order to prolong their shelf life. Then we had a two hour lecture from Chef Pete on stocks. The French call stocks "Fonds", which is stock or base or foundation. Fond de Veau is veal stock. Fond de Poulet is chicken stock, Fond de Lapin is rabbit stock. Stock components consist of bones and/or meat + cold water + aromatics. Or more specifically, 4 pounds of bones to 1 gallon of water to 1 quart of mirepoix.
There are four types of stock: White stock (which is the absence of color), Brown Stock (which uses roasted bones), Court Bouillon (which means short or quick boil and is vegetable stock) and Fumet (fish stock). There are also light stocks and heavy stocks. Light stocks mean whatever you are cooking does not have a lot of flavor or substance to give up. They simmer for 3-4 hours. Heavy stocks like veal stock or beef have big solid bones and take 8-10-12 hours and sometimes overnight to simmer.
A quality stock has four requirements: 1. A quality stock should be clear. 2. It needs to taste like what it is (chicken stock should taste like chicken). 3. The stock needs to have some level of gelatin. 4. A quality stock should be an empty canvas-neutral but not bland (so you can take it in whatever flavor direction you want to go).
Guidelines for preparing a quality stock: 1. Start with cold liquid. 2. Allow for natural clarification (water movement in a simmer, not a boil). 3. Skim the schmutz (impurities)! 4. Simmer, do not boil!!!!
I feel like GardeMo is up on all that-Chef Pete certainly picked on us to give him answers to his questions, lol. I think we did him proud!
We ended up with just one guest from Z Cuisine, a local French Restaurant. He graduated from Cook Street school in December and is now the Sous Chef at Z Cuisine. He talked to us about the restaurant business and recommended that we try working for free in order to gain experience and possibly get a job when we finish school. The premise being that a restaurant would rather hire a known worker than a stranger. He seemed to really enjoy the work-because it IS work!
We spent most of the rest of the day preparing for lunch. GardeMo had a lot of fresh produce to work with so we braised some baby bok choy (that was my job today) in a little white wine, onions and chicken stock (I washed them first, then trussed them so they would hold their shape and then seared them in hot oil just to get some color on them before braising). The seasoning was just salt and pepper. Once the baby bok choy was tender, I took the braising liquid and liquified it in the blender, then seasoned it with a little bacon grease and sherry vinegar. I had diced some bacon slices and fried them up so we could sprinkle them on top of the bok choy when serving. We also sliced lemon cucumbers (they are almost round and lemon yellow but taste like cucumbers) and served them with creme fraiche flavored with salt and pepper (not sure what else they put in it as it was not my project). We also sliced some tomatoes into wedges, then flavored them with EVOO, salt and pepper. We had fresh buffalo mozzarella (from Italy no less!) that we flavored with pesto, then layerd in a compote dish with basil that had been chiffonaded and toasted chopped pine nuts (very nice!). We served the terrine of pork and duck livers we made last Friday and served it with mustard and cornichons (little French pickles).
Hot Plate roasted chickens (after we all learned how to truss a chicken properly), made Duchess potatoes (which are twice cooked potatoes or mashed potatoes fortified with eggs) that were piped into large Hersey kiss shapes. The chicken was served with a Sampaina which is eggplant cooked with other vegetables. It is the Spanish equivilant of ratatoille or Italian caponata. The flavor was outstanding and when paired with the chicken added quite a bit of flavor to the chicken.
For dessert, Pastry made a Marjolaine, which if you remember your meringue lesson, is a French meringue mixed with nut flour (in this case, ground hazelnuts) baked into thin layers. You take those layers and then layer meringue on the bottom, a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache, a thin layer of butter cream, a thin layer of meringue, repeating the process until you have three layers. OUTSTANDING dessert!! Oh my gosh-a little taste of heaven! All we needed was coffee, lol, but alas, we had a white Spanish wine made from the gotello grape.
When we had cleaned up our mess and I was walking to the bus stop, I noticed the sky was very dark and thunder was starting up. I checked but for whatever reason, I had removed my umbrella from my messenger bag. By the time I reached the bus stop, it was POURING rain!! And the end of the baguette sticking out of my bag I brought home from school got wet as well!! I got on the bus, stood the whole ride home as I was quite literally soaking wet and didn't want to get the bus seat wet. As I walked up to the B&B, I saw Carl sitting on the porch with people I soon learned were members of the Arch Diocese who had come to town for a conference. I must have looked a soggy mess to them!
Once I dried off and changed clothes, I decided I needed to do some baking. When I came upstairs though, guess what?! The sun was shining and there was not ONE cloud in the sky, lol! Once I got over my surprise, I made two loaves of Cinnamon Bread and then a batch of Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies. I guess you can smell the baked goods all over the house, cause Carl came into the kitchen and said, "The Arch Diocese is going to LOVE you!" I did get a few visitors, looking to see what smelled so good. One woman told me they were the best cookies she had ever had! What a nice compliment, lol. She came back and asked me for my recipe! She wants to go home and bake them for her sister, lol
As I went downstairs, I saw a small pile of mail for me and one of the packages was my Martin Yan knife, as well as a pair of all-purpose kitchen scissors and a very nice thank you note! Yeah, Martin Yan!!
Anyway, time to relax a little then check out what we will be doing tomorrow!
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